This 1940 photograph shows tourist cabins on Route 1, near Waterloo, Maryland advertising that they catered to an African American clientele.

Physical Description

photograph

Details

Date Made:

1940

Locations:

Maryland

History

Roads were open to all motorists, but the facilities that lined them were not. African Americans who could afford to purchase a car declared the automobile was a way to avoid the ignominy of the Jim Crow car on the railroads. As George Schuyler declared in 1930, "...Negroes who can do so purchase an automobile as soon as possible in order to be free of discomfort, discrimination, segegation, and insult." But, in practice, the discriminatory policies of hotels, tourist cabins, and other lodgings made highway travel difficult, and tarnished the "freedom" of the open road. African Americans responded by creating African American holiday resorts such as Idelwild, Michigan, and by creating a guide to help travelers negotiate their way through the racially charged American terrain